Product Description

Eleven-year-old Isabelle hasn't spoken in nine months, and as December begins the situation is getting desperate. Her mother has stopped work to devote herself to her daughter's care. Four psychiatrists have already given up on her, and her school will not take her back in the New Year. Her parents are frantically trying to understand what has happened so they can help their child, but they cannot escape the thought of darker possibilities. What if Isabelle is damaged beyond their reach? Will she never speak again? Is it their fault? As they spiral around Isabelle's impenetrable silence, she herself emerges as a bright young girl in need of help yet too terrified to ask for it.

By the talented young author of FIREWORKS, this is a compelling, ultimately uplifting novel about a family in crisis, showing the delicate web that connects a husband and wife, parents and children, and how easily it can tear.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4124 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'Winthrop is brilliant at depicting the bewildering world and its assault on the senses of a struggling adolescent . . . This extraordinary novel seduces as it also challenges: curiously provoking and offering small flashes of illumination, like matches struck in that dim and meaningful space on the far side of language.' (Natalie Sandison, The Times )

'Like budding artist Isabelle, Winthrop is a master of observation, and her ability to crystallize themes in particular vignettes (fixing a broken phonograph, buying Christmas presents) brings this affecting family drama vividly to life.' (Publisher's Weekly )

From the Author
When people ask me what December is about, I sum it up this way, because it is easiest: `It is about an eleven-year old girl who won't speak, and hasn't spoken for the past nine months.' People then want to know why. Why won't she speak? What happened? Will she ever speak again? They generally look forward and backward from the situation, wanting causes and solutions, but what I was more interested in while writing the book was the situation itself, and what effect it was having on the characters involved. Isabelle's silence is the giant beast around which the three main characters triangulate, peering around it at each other when they're not fixating on the thing itself. It brings forth a whole host of emotions in each of the characters: shame, frustration, fear, regret, desperation, anger, hope, and, at the center of it all, love.

People often ask whether there was a time in my life when I, like Isabelle, did not speak. The answer to this is no, but her silence, for me, is a metaphor for the way an adolescent girl might manifest the bewilderment with which she views the world, whether it be through depression, addiction, anorexia, or any other number of ways. It isn't necessarily a response to a specific trauma or event as much as it is a reaction to the difficult task of being alive. In this sense, I am writing for all the girls who allegorically lose their voice for a time in the confusing process of growing up; I have been one of those girls too.

About the Author
Elizabeth H. Winthrop was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Harvard University in 2001 with a BA in English and American Literature and Language, and in 2004 she received her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from the University of California. FIREWORKS, her first novel, was published by Sceptre in 2006. She lives in Savannah, Georgia with her husband, who is a painter, and her St. Bernard, and is currently at work on a third novel.

Customer Reviews

Emotional upheaval within a family
'December' is Elizabeth Winthrop's second novel, but the first that I have read. It has been selected for the Richard and Judy book club choice list for 2009.

It is an interesting and gentle read, about Isabelle Carter, who is an eleven year-old girl who hasn't spoken for about nine months, and the novel explores the feelings of Isabelle herself, and those of her mother Ruth and father Wilson, as well as how the silence affects the dynamics of the family relationships, and how it changes Isabelle's day-to-day life.

The strain on the marriage and the agony of trying to find an answer or solution to break the self-imposed silence of Isabelle and rediscover the little girl that they knew before is explored in the novel, which is enjoyable and not too demanding. I found the characters interesting, if not always likeable, and there is a fairly well-developed role for Maggie, the canine animal friend belonging to the family.

The setting alternates between the city apartment in New York and a country residence in New England during the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas Day, and it is Isabelle's silence which permeates the entire novel. The coldness of the weather and descriptions of snow and of nature blend well with the emotions, struggles and mood of the story itself. Recommended.

Gentle, well observed look at an American family, but not much happens.
December is set in New England, and follows the Carter family through the wintery month, as they try to find ways to encourage their eleven-year-old daughter to speak. A long line of psychiatrists have given up on Isabelle, declaring that there is nothing medically wrong with her, and therefore nothing that can be done. Isabelle has now been locked in a world of self-imposed silence for several months, and her parents are struggling to cope with their daughter's problem.

It is a well observed look at a typical American family, but ultimately nothing happens. It is a very gentle novel, with light touches of humour. If you like books by Anne Tyler, then you'll probably love this, but I like a bit more action in my novels.

December
I was really interested in the theme of this book and how parents deal with such a difficult family problem. However, I found that I was a bit disappointed with the writing style. It felt very depressing; a heavy mood throughout with no respite, and a lot of time was spent on describing very ordinary actions of everyday life, in great detail which I found tedious. Actually, I agree with the other reviewer that very little happened. I persevered to find out what happened in the end, but even then, (this doesn't give away what happens) I didn't feel things improved.